Exercuses - Overcoming Obstacles to Exercise

I have volunteered to speak at a local weight loss group about how to overcome obstacles to exercise.  I'm really excited about this topic since this is what I have been personally working on for over two years!  When thinking about my own "exercuses" I came up with the following list:

Lack of time
Tired
Exercise was boring
Muscle injury
General laziness
Bad weather
Embarrassed
Traveling

Fortunately the government already came up with a wonderful list of obstacles and ways to tackle them! (Our tax dollars at work.)  You can find the link to the CDC recommendations here.

For me incorporating exercise into my life has evolved over time.  In the beginning I exercised out of pure fear of the triathlon I had signed up for!  But once that goal had been achieved I needed to come up with more new ways to overcome my own exercuses.  I did so by using the following tools:

1. Scheduling.  In the beginning I literally scheduled exercise into my daily routine by making it an appointment in my blackberry.  If a friend wanted to meet for lunch or if I needed to get to the grocery store, those activities had to be planned around my exercise appointment.

2. Creativity. You've seen my posts on snow days and sick days.  I now have a list of exercises I can do anywhere anytime.  If it's nice outside, I go out with Lucy and jump rope, jog around the block or do burpees on the sidewalk.  When my daughter is at her gymnastic class, I jog around the parking lot for 30 minutes before going in to watch her. It doesn't really matter what I'm doing as long as I'm moving.

3. Equipment.  I invested in a simple set of bands and have slowly added more pieces of equipment over time.  When traveling, even on a short trip, I pack my bands so that I can get in a nice strength training workout particularly if where I'm staying doesn't have a gym or an area to run around outside.

4. Supportive Friends.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  When I don't want to go the the gym or I'm feeling low, I have friends to call who will join me for a walk or meet at the gym.  Making it a social experience helps keep my motivation and is personally rewarding as well.

5. Liking It.  I don't think my commitment to exercise would have been possible without having a great personal trainer who exposed me to different exercise modalities and routines.  I never got bored and I still don't.  The process of exercising may have become routine for me but the actual exercises certainly aren't.  I'm constantly reading about different movements I can do and trying them out at home and the gym.  My other source of inspiration: my daughter.  She does all sorts of fun things on the playground and outside.  I often just play with her and find that I'm getting a great workout!

6. Education.  Learning how to avoid injury and what to do in the event of an injury has been crucial.  Just because my IT Band hurts is no reason to stop exercising.  I can swim, do the ellipitical, yoga, strength training.  And of course stretching has become a really critical part of my daily routine.

These are just a few of the ways that I combat my own excuses.  What do you do to combat "exercuses?"

Be well.